11 - Ousmane Dembélé - V1

[Leo_Messi]

Fucking ironic that outsiders like me (although very well-informed club members unlike some of the other dinosaurs) can spot such problematics from miles away and thus would never risk it yet our brilliant manager and management seemingly have no problems doing such insanely irresponsible and foolish moves.

What was the need of putting Dembélé on against a bang average Lyon team? Why did we even sit back and defend for those dreadful 15-20 minutes against such a weak opponent at home rather than killing them off right away which occurred right away when Messi took matters into his own hands and basically decided the tie and changed the momentum of the game?

Why could Malcom, who has scored 4 goals in 4 games against Lyon, not have played rather than a clearly not fully fit Dembélé?

Now our most important attacking option, second only to Messi, and the most pacy by far, is likely to miss at least the first quarter-finals leg and if not both of them. For sure he will be completely rusty and out of form for the return leg. Will miss the Atlético game at the Camp Nou too which might prove quite decisive.

What is even worse Dembélé has suffered a femoral bicep tendon rupture in his left leg (the injury that kept him out for almost 4 months last season), a hamstring injury in his left leg that kept him out for 1 month that very same season, he suffered an ankle sprain on the same left leg earlier this winter and was out for 1 month, a left hamstring pull a few days ago in the exact same left leg and now he tore his femoral biceps muscle in his left hamstring of his, surprise, surprise, left leg again. Which will apparently rule him out for 1 month.

The only positive thing (now that he is injured) is that there will be a 2 week NT break in two weeks time. Other than that it is incredibly poor management.

 

[clemente]

Our fucking useless fitness staff once again, I always said it and will keep repeating it, we have THREE conditioning coaches and a rehab coach, how did they allow Dembele to play? What a joke, this team has incompetence literally everywhere, uneducated friends of brothers are getting jobs there.

 

[Sorin]

Another page from the book of "How to mismanage a player" by the nobel prize winner for shitty football tactics, Ernesto Valverde.

Imagine having to risk Dembouz' season because you can't confortably beat Lyon at home.

Pathetic.

 

[Raketa10]

There must be some reason why is he having so many injuries. I hope our medical and fitness stuff will try to prevent this from happening in the future. Nutritionist should also look into his eating habits.

 

[Cule4life]

Dawg it just hit me- No more Dembouz magic for a month......

Dembouz activate those insane healing genetics, win the CL and then laugh at the fraud Mbappe. Show them who's the true boss

 

[Leo_Messi]

Let us pray that we won't play against pacy teams like Man City or Liverpool in the quarter-finals.

Imagine for a second this lineup (very much possible with Valverde around) pace wise against one of the two above teams.

MAtS

Roberto-Piqué-Lenglet-Alba

Busquets

Rakitic-Arthur

Messi-Suárez-Coutinho

Zero pace other than Alba or Messi on a good day but opponents will hardly ever allow him much room for good reason.

There must be some reason why is he having so many injuries. I hope our medical and fitness stuff will try to prevent this from happening in the future. Nutritionist should also look into his eating habits.

2 of his 4 (5 if we include the injury that he suffered from on Saturday) came right after each other after he returned too soon. See post 15544.

Risking him yesterday night was asking for trouble. An extremely irresponsible thing to do.

 

[Centauri B]

Rushing him back was an extremely stupid thing to do. Now, he may even miss the CL QFs. Like some are saying above, if we are drawn against the likes of City or Liverpool, this will mean big trouble for us.

 

[CatalinR10]

Well, as a French fan I love them both. But Dembele was the one warming the bench while Mbappe was staring for France and became one of the main reasons France won.

If Barcelona could swap Dembele with Mbappe, they'd do that in a heartbeat.

Imagine swapping Prince Dembele with a perfect fish on land imitator.


LMAO.

 

[Leo_Messi]

The more you think about this decision to use a clearly not fully fit Dembélé the more annoying it gets. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. We are done if we get Man City and Liverpool without Dembélé. I am usually always optimistic and never ruled us out of winning the CL this season (had us as one of the 3 favorites to win it), even before some of the favorites were kicked out, but I can't see us advancing over 2 legs against those two teams when we have close to no pace in the team if Valverde decides to use a lineup like the one that I just wrote which looks very likely already weeks before the quarter-finals.

You can't overestimate the importance of a fit Dembélé for our CL run. Messi, Dembouz and Arthur running on all cylinders will probably be our 3 most important players in a possible CL win. At least offensively and in terms of creation and midfield control. Defensive pillars like MAtS, Piqué and Alba being the obvious candidates in the other end of the pitch. Long-term injuries to either of those 6 (could include Suárez here even the Donkey Suárez version, sadly) and we are in big, big trouble. Busquets too arguably although he is no longer the same player he once was.

 

[xXKonan]

All he had was a strain before the match and it would have probably taken a couple of games off + The international break and he would be good to go after that but it turned into an injury as he was played yesterday.

Coutinho was "Good" in the first half but the massive difference between him and once Dembele came on was pretty stark.

 

[Cule4life]

The fact that we had to risk him to due to Valgreen's cowardice against freaking Lyon and his refusal to use Malcom is what infuriates me, not risking him in itself.

 

[Leo_Messi]

The fact that we had to risk him to due to Valgreen's cowardice against freaking Lyon is what infuriates me, not risking him in itself.

Both are equally bad, IMO. No sane staff or manager should have risked a player this soon. Malcom could have added more or less the same that a barely fit Dembélé added. The same Malcom that has scored 4 goals in 4 games against the mighty Lyon team that had 3 shots on goal (they barely created anything like in the first leg) or how many they had. They should not even have scored their sole goal due to one of their defenders being offside and another committing a clear foul on Lenglet. Had VAR worked that is.

Admittedly Suárez might not have got his penalty either if VAR had worked but we would have won against that Lyon team anyway.

 

[Centauri B]

Let's hope that the international break will be enough for him to recover. But even if he does recover, his form will suffer no matter what.

As many are pointing out, if we draw one of the Top 2 from England, we are in big trouble without Dembele.

 

[Vilarrubi]

Let's hope that the international break will be enough for him to recover. But even if he does recover, his form will suffer no matter what.

As many are pointing out, if we draw one of the Top 2 from England, we are in big trouble without Dembele.

Let’s hope [MENTION=21723]Pedro[/MENTION]

 

[BigBarcaBoy]

People criticing valverde for the injury, the medical staff declare him fit so the coach uses him to kill off a difficult but tiring opponent. Not hard to understand